Jessie Robertson reviews the second episode of The Flash season 5…
The Flash season premiere was pretty darn Schway!: Let’s check out episode 2…
What I Enjoyed This Week:
– Are we getting the big bad early this season? His opening introduction was…intriguing, it looks like he’s just a regular guy with a very irregular lightning bolt rod; all his scenes so far were very atmospheric which isn’t always something you get with a supervillain. His power is removing those around him, which is pretty darn powerful unless one of these Speedsters can zip up before he finds them. As the episode ended, I don’t think he will be a full season villain but I like the connection to Nora, whatever it may be.
– The West-Allen (or is it Allen-West?) family took it’s time but as the episode wound down, it really came on strong; Joe, who hasn’t done a damn thing yet but sit on his butt, at least gives us a snippet of classic Joe family advice; Barry & Nora’s chat was about as heartwarming as chicken soup and Iris’ congratulatory family cheer was smile inducing. Let’s not forget about the extended fam: I’ll talk more about this In things I didn’t like but Cisco and Caitlin, with years of friendship built in, have a great chat and Cisco really pours his heart out in Jitters about the realization of what Gypsy will mean to his life; that’s pretty damn honest stuff not many could pull off.
– The Ralph-Cisco connection is no Cisco-Wells but it has it’s moments.
Things Not So Much:
– Cisco’s sadness was really a bummer for all watching this week. I get it, breakups are hard, especially strange inter dimensional ones, but just watching him mope around and be out of it was not fun. The Book of Ralph is a tremendous concept on paper; it didn’t really deliver on the screen. A lot of the humor didn’t land fully for me and surely we have to be doing something better for these three, although giving Caitlin a side plot that seems meatier than anything she’s had in years is a plus.
– Our villain (was her name really Block?) wasn’t bad per se even though I didn’t really understand her power (and that meat cube she made was one of the grosser things the special effects crew has devised on this show) but her storyline was weak and it got more time than most other villains. I had no engagement to it at all; Boo-Hoo you want to sell guns, yeah , let’s move on. She won’t be missed.
– Just minor things after that: Glad to see Iris’ jealousy didn’t last too long and oh yeah, she writes for a blog! That’s always a convenient plot point until we don’t need it. But, her scenes didn’t feel as contrived here, even though she just pulled her evidence from Barry’s computer (that seems badly in need of a compliance audit). Cecile not hearing the baby’s thoughts; yeah they tried to explain it but I can almost guarantee all Moms sitting at home were like “Deal with it!”
Grade 7.5/10 – Coming down from the high point of the premiere and a really innocuous villain plot for episode 2 and even Nora seems to have lost a lot of her dialogue and enthusiasm since week 1.
Jessie Robertson
